One of the vicissitudes that the Covid-19 pandemic brought with it was that the cinema had to reinvent itself, and as part of this reinvention, many filmmakers chose to create films based on plays (because obviously the cost is lower, the locations are few - sometimes only one - and not many actors are needed). Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is one of these movies. Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman give very good performances, Viola is Viola so it's obvious, but Boseman really shone in this film in his portrayal of a wounded musician with aspirations and desires for vengeful triumph. The other nominations it received were for costume design, which is nothing spectacular; makeup and hairstyle, which in Viola's case are very good; and production design, which isn't dazzling either (it's a two-room set, of course the sets are well done). What I did find annoying was that it shows so much that we are watching a play. Where is the cinematographic language? There are many, many plays adapted to the cinema, but it is not about recording the stage of a theater, but about creating a story with the use of cinematographic language, and this film completely fails at that. In other years, I don't think it would have featured in the nominations.